Stallholders at the Canberra farmers market say increasing crowds and cake stalls are causing them to lose business.

Beef and lamb producer Phil McCormack, from Crookwell on the NSW Southern Tablelands, says his market sales have fallen by 25 per cent in the last 18 months.

Mr McCormack says the weekly event is no longer a traditional farmers market and management needs to rethink its approach.

"People are sitting around and it's getting in the road of people who want to just come in and buy and go home," he said.

"I think we need to get back to the roots of what a genuine farmers market is and it's genuine farmers.

"They take the elements, they take drought, they take floods, they take fire, they take everything into account, where the people that cook in their houses and do whatever they do in their houses, they don't take anything like that into account."

Mr McCormack says he wants management to consult more with stallholders about their concerns and to take into account how hard farmers work on market days.

"I start at two o'clock in the morning. I get to the farmers' market about 5:30 a.m., sell it, and then I come down to my Dickson shop and then we deliver around to all our restaurants and I get home about 6 p.m.

"I've got to get back to my kids and that, which I'm missing big time."

The Rotary Club's compliance officer for the Canberra Farmers Market, Tony Howard, says crowd numbers have increased and he can't understand how that could be bad for business.

"There is still very free movement up and down the aisles of the markets," he said

"We generally average about 100 stalls a week, so that means that in a year, we've actually progressed by only four stalls, so what we detect is people having a wonderful time there of a morning and doing their shopping right across the board."

"There are only ever allowed to be 10 stalls that serve food that is ready to eat," he said.

"People come to the markets and it's the middle of a Saturday morning and they're hungry, that's part of the ambience of the market."

He says the market is considered to be more a "producers' market" rather than a farmers market.

"In terms of cake stalls, some people that produce exquisite beautiful product may not grow it in the ground, but they make it and it's beautiful, and it forms part of the diversity of the market."

Mr Howard says stallholders who say they're losing business due to bigger crowds and the diversity of stalls need to rethink their approach.

"What we always say to our stallholders when they have these sorts of comments is, 'Look to your product and look to your price'. It's a very competitive market," he said.

"But I will point out this, that this is not a co-operative. This farmers market is owned and operated by the Rotary Club of Hall and we do it for not just one person, or for one stallholder, but for everybody, including the public, including Rotary and including the stallholders."

Owen Saddler and his mother, Marilyn Chalkley own and manage a patisserie in Fyshwick, in the ACT and they've been selling their macarons, cakes, tarts and savouries at the Canberra farmers' market for three years.

They both say the market isn't overcrowded and it's important to have a "good mix" of produce and food stalls each week.

"I don't think there are any more cake stalls there now than there were previously," Mr Saddler said.

He believes that cake stalls support farmers at the market.

"We buy a lot of our produce from the farmers' market and so we can show our customers what they can do with produce we buy."

Ms Chalkley added that she buys eggs and seasonal ingredients such as chestnuts for her tarts and cakes at the market.

For Mr Saddler, the price some farmers charge for their products is a bigger concern than overcrowding.

"I would say 90 per cent of the time, (the produce) is of a quality that you couldn't find somewhere else," he said.

"The main issue I have is that some of the farmers are the farmers' market are charging an equivalent price for a product which they have produced themselves," he said.

"And if they're selling at the farmers' market and not to a wholesaler, they should be able to pass that product on at a price slightly above what they might charge a wholesaler, not the full retail price."

"If they're getting a much greater margin than they would get from their wholesaler, then I think it's unjustifiable."